Love: Rachel Maaskant & Benjamin Yocum

Their friendship began in homeroom at Arcola Intermediate School. By the time they reached Methacton High, Rachel and Ben did everything together.

Though they traveled in a group of 10 friends, "I always found myself just talking to her," Ben said.

"Even when I was dating someone else," said Rachel, "he was always the friend I could lean on."

There were other, more-than-friendship feelings, but Ben was afraid that, if he acted on them and it didn't work out, he'd lose their friendship.

Rachel, who lived in Collegeville, and Ben, who lived in Eagleville, were each other's date to the Methacton 2007 senior prom. Their romantic interest became more difficult to ignore, and that summer, they smooched.

"At one of our friends' houses, a couple of days before we started college, we made it official," Rachel said. "I knew he would never hurt me. He'd always been there for me."

Both attended Penn State Berks, where Rachel studied elementary education and Ben film and television. Ben spent his last two years at Penn State Main, the distance preparing them for the hour between them after graduation. For about four years, Rachel lived with her mom in Elverson, and Ben with his dad in Schwenksville.

At first, she worked as a substitute teacher and he at an AT&T store, selling phones and troubleshooting problems for customers. Eventually, she was hired by Kindercare Learning Center in Malvern, where she's now center director, and he by QVC, where he is master control operator, working on the live show behind the scenes.

In 2014, they bought their home in Parkesburg.

Rachel and Ben, both 26, together planned a trip to the Magic Kingdom that was to have happened this week. Ben planned some magic all his own: a proposal.

But everything changed in June when Rachel's dad, Dave, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. "It was caught late, and we got the news he didn't have too much time left with us," Rachel said.

Ben and Rachel sat on their couch, talking about her dad on a mid-July Thursday evening when Ben had a question: "Do you want to do a wedding next weekend?"

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked. Both were.

"I just wanted my dad to be there, to walk me down the aisle, like he did for my sister last year," Rachel said.

Their first calls were to their parents, stepparents, and siblings to ensure all could be there. Jeanes Hospital, part of Fox Chase Cancer Center, said they could be married in the outdoor atrium that Ben admired for its garden, fountain, and archway.

Ben works nights, sleeps days, and credits Rachel with bringing everything together. Her brother David, an ordained minister who had performed her sister's wedding, would officiate. Sister Alisha agreed to be maid of honor. Rings were chosen, and a cake was ordered from Acme. Ben would wear a suit he bought for Rachel's sister's wedding. Rachel figured she'd pick up a white sundress at the mall, but Alisha insisted on a trip to David's Bridal.

A delighted Dave agreed to escort his youngest down the aisle.

The evening before the wedding, the couple, her brother and sister-in-law, and her mom and stepdad all stayed at her sister and brother-in-law's house.

On the table sat a vase of red roses, with an envelope that said, "Do not open until I tell you to." Recognizing the handwriting, Rachel pestered Ben. He held out until everyone had arrived.

The card read: "Rachel Maaskant, will you marry me tomorrow?" She looked up from the card to find Ben kneeling and holding up a box with an engagement ring inside.

"This isn't the proposal that I was planning to give you, but I love you, and I can't wait to marry you," he said. "Will you marry me tomorrow?"

She said yes, and he put the ring on her finger.

The next morning, Ben and the boys went to the golf course and Rachel to the hospital. Her hair and makeup done, but still in sweatpants, Rachel couldn't wait to see her dad. "You look beautiful!" he told her. He was looking fine himself, she told him. Dave had changed from hospital gown to dress clothes and looked more like himself than he had in weeks, Rachel thought.

While she finished getting ready, Ben helped with last-minute details. That's when he saw that hospital staff had planted new flowers in the beds and added fresh mulch. The couple supplied large white bows and folding chairs for their 25 guests - parents and stepparents, siblings and their spouses, and two friends each.

"We invited 25, but about 100 showed up," Ben said. The hospital building surrounds the atrium, and patients and staff watched from windows on all five floors.

They saw the bride holding her father's hand.

"My dad was not able to walk anymore, so he was wheeled down in his reclining chair, and he held my hand as my brother pushed him down the aisle," Rachel said.

Brother David led the 20-minute ceremony. "We wanted it short and sweet," Rachel said. " 'I do,' rings, vows, kiss the bride - that's it."

After the kiss, the patients watching from their windows clapped and waved. "It was the coolest thing," Ben said.

A conference room on Dave's floor held the reception. "They repainted the room that week for us and had a sign on the door that said, 'Private Party, Maaskant/Yocum Reception,' " Rachel said. Behind the door were champagne, shrimp cocktail, sliders, chips and dip, and the cake with Minnie and Mickey Mouse on top - a nod to the couple's love of Disney and the postponed trip during which Ben had planned to propose.

"We barely spent anything on this wedding and planned it in a week, and it was perfect," Rachel said. "My dad even said, 'Now all my kids are married.' He knows we're all OK, and it brought a peace to him."

Rachel will always treasure the moments before she walked down the aisle, when her dad first saw her in her gown. "I broke into tears from his reaction to seeing me," she remembered. "He was so happy, and I'll never forget that. And Ben gave that to me."

When Rachel and Dave "came out together, it was really special," said Ben. "It was all contingent on how he was that day, and he was really good. And she looked beautiful. I realized that we had done this successfully, and I was so happy that it happened."

A bargain: The venue. "We made this joke, 'Everyone should be getting married here!' because it was completely free and so beautiful," Rachel said.

The splurge: The bride, who planned on a white sundress, chose one of the most expensive gowns at the store, with the encouragement of her mom, who paid as a gift. "I loved it. And Ben's reaction when I walked down the aisle . . . he was looking at me, and I could hear him say, 'What?!' because he didn't expect me to come out in a wedding gown. We had that moment. My groom was surprised."

Someday, the couple plan a big reception with a first dance and a fun party for everyone they love. There will be belated bachelor and bachelorette parties, and a honeymoon, too. But none of that matters now, Rachel said.

Dave has been discharged from the hospital and is spending time with the newlyweds and the rest of his family at home.

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Officiant: David Maaskant, brother

of the bride.

Venue: The atrium and a conference room at Jeanes Hospital, Philadelphia.

Food: Provided by the family.

Photography: Sister-in-law Laurie Keiper-Maaskant.

Flowers: Floral department of Wegmans in Collegeville.

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